Thomas Mallon: "Watergate: A Novel"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2012-03-01/thomas-mallon-watergate-novel
Nearly four decades have passed since the Watergate break-in. While the scandal may be ancient history to some, questions remain about events that brought down the Nixon presidency. Exactly who ordered the break-in of the Democratic Party headquarters and why? Why didn’t president Nixon destroy the Oval Office tapes? And why was a politician as smart as Richard Nixon brought down by a “third-rate burglary?” Answers remain elusive despite volumes of committee records, court transcripts, and memoirs. A new novel attempts to capture the mystery at the center of the scandal. Diane talks with author, Thomas Mallon, about his fictional account of the events surrounding Watergate.
Guests
Thomas Mallon
director of creative writing at George Washington University, author of seven novels, including "Bandbox," "Henry and Clara," and "Dewey Defeats Truman." Among his nonfiction books are "A Book of One's Own," "Stolen Words," and "Mrs. Paine's Garage." He's a frequent contributor to "The New Yorker," "The Atlantic Monthly," and other magazines.
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Program Highlights
Near the end of the new novel about Watergate, a fictional Pat Nixon says Watergate was enormous, colossal and it was nothing. Author Thomas Mallon joins me in the studio to talk about his imagined take on the nearly 40-year-old scandal and its legacy today. This new book is titled "Watergate: A Novel."
"It Was Ridiculous"
Mallon had his fictional Pat Nixon utter the quote above because, he said of Watergate, "It was ridiculous. "It was an act of political sabotage that was meaningless...and on the other hand, it was colossal...I think you have to, in a way, look at it both ways," he said.
"I Wanted To See This As A Novelist"
Mallon likes to look at American historical events from the perspectives of people who get swept up in them. Years ago, he wrote a book titled "Henry and Clara" about the couple who were seated in the balcony with the Lincolns on the night of the assassination. "And so I thought here was another chance to come at a big historical event somewhat obliquely, although one of my point of view characters is Nixon himself. So you can't get any more central than that, but a lot of them are people sort of on the fringes," Mallon said.
Mallon's Portrait of Nixon
Mallon calls his portrait of Nixon "wildly mixed." "I think he was a rough character in politics and had very, very sharp elbows," he said. "I think, in a way, his problem in life politically and, to some extent, maybe even personally, he didn't know how to take yes for an answer. He had finally won the presidency after losing it, after losing the governorship of California and being told that he was finished. And he was suddenly there, but he arrived at such a tumultuous time that he felt besieged. And he had the sort of personality that would take actual evidence of being besieged and magnify it. And I don't think he ever had a relaxed moment in his life," Mallon said.
A Man With Demons
Even when Nixon won his 1972 landslide victory over McGovern, Mallon is struck by accounts that he sat and watched the returns with an air of depression. "I think that often happens to people of accomplishment. You know, there's the let down when you've actually achieved something," Mallon said. "But I think this was the third time he'd run for the presidency. The first time he had lost it by whisker, the second time he'd won it by a whisker. And I think what he really wanted was another sort of thrill ride. And what he couldn't really deal with was victory easily and a victory that indicated resounding approval from the voting population or at least resounding disapproval of his opponent," Mallon said.
You can read the full transcript here.
Comments
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How much really deep investigative reporting was really involved with Watergate when Deep Throat Mark Felt was leading Woodward and Bernstein. Mark Felt had been the associate director at the FBI. I read that he had quite a vendetta against Nixon based on Nixons efforts to block Felt from becoming the director the FBI... a personal agenda to take Nixon out.
And why if Woodward was such a great investigative reporter why is it that he was totally part of the media's "group think" in the run up to the invasion of Iraq He rolled over.
I think Woodward and Bernsteins alleged investigative skills are over rated. Woodward has basically been administrations stenographer
Is the "mystery" the fact that deep throat//Mark Felt had a personal agenda when it came to Nixon? How much investigative reporting was really happening when Felt led Woodward/Bernstein went exactly where he wanted them to go.
In ’69, Nixon Tried to Strangle Israel Lobby in Its Crib
by Philip Weiss on February 3, 2008 19
Here is a cool memorandum written by Richard Nixon in '69, to his Secy of State William Rogers and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger. It was sent along to me by scholar Roland Popp, who dug it up in the National Archives. I sure hope you can look at it.
The actual text reads: "I have noted in reading the papers prepared by the State Department and the Security Council Review Board on the Mideast, references from time to time to 'domestic political considerations.'
"The purpose of this memorandum is twofold:
"1. Under no circumstances will domestic political considerations have any bearing on the decisions I make with regard to the Mideast;
"2. The only consideration that will effect [sic] my decisions on this policy will be the security interests of the United States.
"In the future, I want no references to domestic political considerations to be included in any papers and I do not want the subject of domestic political considerations to be brought up in discussions of this subject.
"Will you please circulate this memorandum among all those who are working on this problem.
"[Signed] RN"
cont
I'd note that the writer who picked this memo up before Popp, Richard Reeves, in his Nixon book, linked it with Nixon's antisemitism. Calling Kissinger Jewboy, for instance. (Can't seem to make the link work).
My own response is: Smart guy, Nixon. What a good mind when it was working. Logical and straightforward. I take him at his word here. I think he was pissed off by the Israel lobby talk. At a time when the Israel lobby was arising, post-'67, during the "existential" period of Jewish fears for the Jewish state (which of course continue today in the Dershowitzian mind of Jewish leadership), as a new force in American life. Nixon's irritation reminds me of George H.W. Bush's irritation in '91, when he raged against "all these lobbyists" on Capitol Hill. Nixon and James Baker both said Fuck the Jews. But they couldn't, could they. I don't know what specific policy Nixon was working on. Bush was trying in '91 to put the freeze on settlements. GHWBush lost the next election; and the settlements continued... By one report, senior Bush has blamed the Israel lobby for his loss. His son has not made that mistake. So much for domestic political considerations.
Will you please circulate this memo to all who are working on the problem....
So Nixon was squeezed out with threat of impeachment
Clinton had impeachment thrown at him for lying under oath about bjobs
Bush administration got away with an intelligence snowjob that resulted in hundreds of thousands dead, injured etc. No accountability
Who is more guilty of hurting National security and the office of the President?
In your research did you find any evidence that Felt had a personal vendetta towards Nixon?
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non starter
It's been four decades since the Watergate burglars got caught in the act. A new novel re-imagines the events that followed and brought down the Nixon presidency. Diane talks with author, Thomas Mallon, about his fictional account of the
Very good, I'm all in for cleaning out the sewer pipes of liberal media. Last week slander upon the good, the very good name of the late Andrew Breitbart were posited. Lets get it right.
Andrew Breitbart did a piece on Shirly Sherrod, it's in the news again to slam Breitbart upon his death as a dishonest journalist. The fact remains Ms.Sherrod is a racist and deserved to be fired by Obama. The Obama administration acting quickly fired her, later MSM cries fowl that the quote was taken out of context and she was wrongfully fired and this is how MSM put the issue to rest and it was widely accepted, this is false. Ms.Sherrod describes how she racially discriminates against a white farmer. She describes how she is torn over how much she will choose to help him. And, she admits that she doesn’t do everything she can for him, because he is white. Eventually, her basic humanity informs that this white man is poor and needs help. But she decides that he should get help from “one of his own kind”. She refers him to a white lawyer.
See the video below for the full statement in context. Ask yourself if a white person in her position would have been able to stay on the job saying what she said.
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2010/07/19/Video-Proof--The-NAAC...